Bonney Lake and Sumner are often known for their beauty and affluence. To a visitor, the cities can seem like small towns crammed only with antique shops, quaint boutiques and lakefront McMansions. Carol Wells-Reed knows better.
“Literally across from these (mansions) on Lake Tapps, there are pockets of incredible poverty,” said Wells-Reed, founder of Lions 4 Kids House, a clothing bank for area students. “Nobody really knew. People in the school district knew...but the community at large didn’t know.”
Twenty-five percent of the students in the Sumner School District, which covers both towns, have some kind of financial hardship, said district STARR Project Director Marilee Hill Anderson. During the past school year, 220 of the district’s children were reported as homeless and at Daffodil Valley Elementary, 60 percent of the students qualified for free and reduced lunches. At Liberty Ridge Elementary, 47 percent of its student population qualifies, a 10 percent jump from the previous school year.
In 2006, Wells-Reed and the Bonney Lake Lions Club decided to make it easier and on Sept. 2, the Lions 4 Kids House is celebrating its third anniversary.
About four years ago, Wells-Reed, a member of the Bonney Lake Lions Club, sat down with Hill Anderson to talk about what the Lions could do to help the school district.
“She said, ‘What we really need is a clothing bank,’” Wells-Reed recalled.
So Wells-Reed got to work and by the start of the 2006-2007 school year, Lions 4 Kids House was born. It has since moved, in March of this year, from a city-owned building near Bonney Lake’s library to a renovated home donated by the city. It’s a cotton candy-colored children’s paradise, located off of Bonney Lake’s Main Street. The inside is decorated like a children’s boutique, with merchandise — everything from clothing to makeup to shoes — on racks and in brightly-colored bins and an array of stuffed lions displayed throughout the store. There is even a serenity garden in the backyard, where children can sit and be peaceful for a few minutes. The ambiance is deliberate; Wells-Reed said she and the other volunteers are careful to make certain that both the facility and the clothing don’t scream “clothing bank.”
“We make sure our stuff isn’t stained or torn,” Lions 4 Kids House Manager Iona Catonio said, adding that the house has laundry facilities on site. “We put out what we would put on our own children. We keep nice stuff.”
The goal is to help the children fit in as much as possible, so academics, not the fact that they stand out, is foremost in their minds.
“When children come to school and they have ill-fitting clothes or their foot is coming through their shoes ... they start facing comments, they feel self-conscious,” said Hill Anderson, now a member of the Lions 4 Kids House advisory board. “(Kids House) helps them dismiss that. It becomes a non-issue ... (They) come to school ready to learn (and) they’ve got what they need to be better focused on learning.”
For that reason, Lions 4 Kids House offers not only clothing but also personal care products such as deodorant, razors and makeup and also offers haircuts once a month. On a Wednesday less than two weeks before school started, Marjorie Monson from Auburn’s Marjorie’s salon was on hand to cut hair. Monson spent a few minutes with each client before she got out the scissors, asking them what exactly they were looking for.
“It’s my first time here,” she said. “But I love it. It feels amazing to do something like this.”
All the hard work has been paying off. Students can come in to replenish their supplies or clothes once a month and she said Kids House usually sees about 225 children monthly. Wells-Reed has seen improvements.
“(They) are just blossoming,” she said. “We see their report cards; we know their grades have gone up incredibly.”
Lions 4 Kids House clients must be in the Sumner, Dieringer, Orting, Carbonado or White River school districts and must have a referral from either the schools, a food bank or a family center. Kids House volunteers also head to area food banks during the week, hoping to find families who haven’t yet heard of Lions 4 Kids House.
“If we’re there, we’re going to be able to connect with a lot more kids who need it,” Wells-Reed explained.
Volunteers with Lions 4 Kids House say the focus is on the children, but in doing so, a big burden is taken off parents. Client Beth Butler is living proof.
“Oh, it definitely helps,” said Butler, who has four children between the ages of six and 15. “Every little bit helps, especially with four children.”
Wells-Reed, along with Catonio and Assistant Manager April Young, have also gotten to know some of the families personally. Before opening Kids House to clients one day last week, Catonio and Young stashed away a particular donation — a folder with a picture of a friendly-looking brown horse — for a particular little girl.
“She loves horses, so we put that away for when she comes in,” Young explained.
Each position at Lions 4 Kids House is a volunteer position, but each person is quick to heap the praise on someone else. Anderson insisted that Lions 4 Kids House wouldn’t even exist without Wells-Reed.
Wells-Reed said she couldn’t keep it running without Catonio and Young and they all are certain that there would be nothing to give out without the help of the community.
“If we didn’t live in this community, we wouldn’t be doing this,” Catonio said. “(These towns) are just amazing.”
And giving seems to be contagious. Catonio’s niece, 12-year-old Xenia May, is visiting from Canada for the summer. It’s the second summer in a row she has spent the majority of her vacation volunteering at Lions 4 Kids House.
“I like doing it every day,” May said. “It makes you feel good.”
It’s true, but Wells-Reed said the reasons go beyond that.
“I’m not completely altruistic,” she said. “As I’ve come to realize, it’s a great big cycle. If these children are empowered ... they’re going to do better in school. If these kids graduate from high school, if they go on to further training of some kind, they stand a much better chance to succeed in life. That makes them taxpayers instead of social service users. To me, that is the key, getting these kids on a level playing field from the beginning.”
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Give to the Lions 4 Kids House Because clients can visit once a month to replenish supplies, Lions 4 Kids House needs both donations and volunteers throughout the year. “We definitely need more volunteers,” Manager Iona Catonio said. Training is provided and a background check is necessary, but anyone in the public is encouraged to help out. Donations are also welcome. Kids House is always in need of new, unused socks and underwear for children from kindergarten to 12th grade. The children prefer boxers and no-show socks, Catonio said. Combs, brushes, floss, deodorant and body wash are also always needed. For school supplies, binders, backpacks, scientific calculators and college-ruled paper is needed, too. Donations can be dropped off at Lions 4 Kids House, 18429 89th St. E. in Bonney Lake. For more information on volunteering, donating or becoming a client, call 253-447-3844.
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